A low, furious rumble began in Malachi’s chest. April tugged his hand. “Please don’t, Malachi. Rhett was trying to get me to safety the fastest way he could. And when he saw my fear, he explained what was happening and didn’t pick me up until I told him it was all right.”
A final warning growl sounded from Malachi’s throat—an alpha’s warning. Rhett dipped his head in a nod of acknowledgment, and then Malachi was quiet.
“Apology completely accepted,” April said. “You were in action mode with good reason, and it sounds like you were one of the wolves who joined the fight, so thank you.”
“Oh, none of us reached him in time to join the fight. This wolf’s a force of nature.” He nodded at Malachi. “I regret not giving chase sooner, but—well, at the time I was thinking, keep the perimeter tight and prepare to hear the news my alpha’s dead.” He looked toward the door a moment, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. Then he nodded to both April and Malachi. “All right, now I’ll leave y’all to some peace and quiet.”
“Thank you,” Malachi said. “For all you’ve done in the last night and day.”
Rhett nodded and left.
“Do you regret staying to hear all that?” Malachi said quietly.
She wanted to be able to give him an easyno, to be the kind of woman who flinched at nothing. Besides, this wasn’t normal life for Harmony Ridge, Tennessee; she was the reason for the situation in the first place. But life held no guarantee that Drew would be the only danger they faced together, and she had to be honest with him and with herself. This was what it meant to be his mate, to sit beside him while he heard a situation report after…well, a battle.
“It wasn’t easy to hear,” she said. “But it was right for me to hear it. So no, I don’t regret it.”
He nodded but continued to study her, as if there were more to say. When she turned her face, an instinct to hide though her scent would give her away, he took her hand again.
“April, please don’t worry about me.”
“It’s going to take a minute to stop.”
Speaking the words seemed to break something open inside her. She shut her eyes tight and tried to control herself. But she could still see him bleeding out on the table, could still hear his weak panting. Her memory of the golden wolf, her place beside his bed this very minute—maybe it wasn’t happening. Maybe he had died, and April had fainted and dreamed him back to life.
Suddenly she was crying.
“Ah,” he said quietly. He tugged her hand. “Come here.”
She climbed up onto the platform bed and sat beside him without touching him.
“I said, come here,” he rasped gently with another tug on her hand.
“I’ll hurt you.”
“Please, April. It will help both of us.”
With utmost care she slid closer to him. He wrapped an arm around her and drew her to his side until her head rested on his chest. His breath caught, but when she tried to pull away, his arm tightened.
“Please,” he said.
She rested in his arms for a few minutes, listening to him breathe, feeling his heartbeat against her cheek. Her fear ebbed away as the truth seeped into her. Malachi hadn’t died. Her wolf was alive. He was holding her now, not whole yet but on the mend.
“I knew you were leaving us,” she said. “I knew even before Aaron told me. You were so badly hurt.”
“Yes,” he rumbled quietly.
“You remember it?”
“Most of it. There are a few blurs.”
“I wish you didn’t.”
He rumbled a growl of comfort. For her. She rested her hand on his chest, a light touch that didn’t make contact with any of the scars. She knew the location of each one, even through his shirt. Malachi drew a deeper breath, as though her touch brought him comfort just as his wolf voice brought it to her.
“I just wanted you to stay.”
“You’re the reason I’m here. Twice over.”
